Dejected? Time for action

I am an editor with a broad range of interests including well-being, the environment, politics, lifestyle issues, social trends, sex and relationships and community. I am also a qualified counsellor and permaculturist, a dog lover and a yogi. I have written two books, Sex, Optimism and Surviving the 21st Century (Harper Collins) and Slow Sydney (Affirm Press). I love new ideas and people who think outside the box . I enjoy working in a close-knit community.

RESEARCHERS have found that the two human emotional states that are most dangerous for our health are feeling powerless and feeling hopeless.

While these feelings can affect us all, the antidote to both is often positive action. Or, as singer and activist Joan Baez says: "action is the antidote to despair".

At the very least, doing something that makes you feel more in control, or more hopeful, will move you further towards health and happiness.

This often gets overlooked when we assess our general wellness - attitude.

If you feel like yours could do with a kick up the proverbial - you never have time for the fun stuff, you can't get things done, you spend too much time in front of the television and hardly exercise, you're cynical or depressed - the new book by Ruth Field, Get Your Sh!t Together, is a powerhouse of inspiration.

The British author, who wrote the bestseller Run Fat B!tch Run, has applied her no-nonsense self-help advice to "the crappy stuff in life grinding you down".

Field writes about getting on top of life and pinpoints the anxiety that plagues us all.

How many of us wake with that panicky feeling in the middle of the night when we remember something we forgot to do, she asks.

Or, indeed, how many of us live with a constant, nagging anxiety that things are not quite right.

About 14% of Australians suffer from anxiety disorders according to SANE Australia.

The rest of us may simply be wired and tired, turning to junk food, alcohol, tobacco or mindless entertainment.

Of course, not all anxiety disorders or addictions can be fixed by taking action. For those with severe disabilities, medication as well as high levels of support are often needed.

But for those who just feel stretched by time, demands and, indeed, everyday life, there is much in Field's book to help you.